Giants of Late-Night Visit Stephen Colbert in Show of Support

TODAY

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The cold-open begins with Stephen Colbert standing alone in the pre-dawn gloom outside Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater, reflecting on the 148 days his show has been off the air during the Writers Guild of America strike. As he steels himself to walk back through the stage door, a thunderous voice booms from above. Colbert looks up to see an enormous, hologram-style version of Jimmy Fallon’s head filling the sky, followed in quick succession by equally gigantic likenesses of Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. The four “giants of late-night”—his partners on the recent “Strike Force Five” podcast—announce that they have appeared to lend moral support on Colbert’s first night back.

The hosts banter like a super-sized Greek chorus. They tease Colbert about whether he’s ready to deliver monologue jokes again, admit that they’re all secretly jealous he got the Ed Sullivan marquee, and riff on the oddity of three late-night Jimmys sharing the same gigantic shot. Kimmel offers Colbert some “leftover strike-era jokes” about the Barbie-Oppenheimer summer box-office battle; Fallon suggests a bit about the continuing Sriracha shortage; Meyers pitches a run of Taylor Swift–Kansas City Chiefs punch lines; and Oliver, deadpan and British, proposes lacing Colbert’s opening with “gratuitous animal facts.” Colbert politely declines each gag, insisting he’ll write his own, but the camaraderie doubles as a reminder that the writers who craft such material are finally back at work.

Their supernatural send-off culminates in a mock-prophetic chant—half inspirational, half ridiculous—before the giant heads flicker out like faulty neon signs. Colbert, now alone again on the sidewalk, nods in appreciation, straightens his suit, and walks inside to greet his returning staff and audience. The sketch closes with a title card thanking the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions, underscoring the solidarity that has defined late-night television throughout the labor dispute. In less than three minutes, the video delivers a punchy message: the strike is over, the jokes are back, and the late-night community remains united.

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